Tough conditions? Fageddabouddit. Time to ride...

When we crowd out negative thoughts with positive ones on a ride where we know some suffering is in store, we can prevail over most physical obstacles, be they gnarly weather conditions, a nasty climb or a clueless pedestrian blocking your lane.

One way to do it is to look at any obstacles on a ride as fun challenges rather than conspiracies to defeat us and make us cry for our mommies!

Doing that will help us, to quote Jim Morrison, break on through to the other side, the upside of getting in a strong, satisfying ride.

Somebody said the only bad workout we can have is the one we never do. Yep, that’s how it is for me and getting on the bike. I want to get two rides in a week, and if I miss them due to rain, I feel pent up and stodgy, like a fat, slow moving couch potato.

So when my time to ride arrives and conditions aren’t great, it’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” decision time.

I can sit out and then constantly wonder if I should have gone despite the conditions. Or I can just buck up and ride through the elements to get the pedal time I need.

Rain and high winds have kept me from going out on rides when I’ve had the luxury of waiting a day or two for better conditions.

But if I won’t have the time to ride for another six or seven days, I have a different mindset.

Sure, if it’s raining steadily, with no prospect of letting up, I’ll sit it out, not worth it, better luck next time. I once did a long ride in the rain and it was absolutely not worth it. I learned one thing: Don’t ride in the rain if you can help it. I poured a boot-ful of rainwater out of my bike frame.

But if there’s a 30 percent chance of rain and it isn’t raining, I check the weather map, and if there aren’t any rain indicator blobs moving toward my area, I take my chances and hit the road. And if it’s really windy, bending the trees with 20-25 mph gusts, even though I hate getting blown around on the bike, I go.

On those days, I start off telling myself that yes, the wind will blow all through this ride, but so what, it’s just going to be a slow and go workout. That positive thought gets me out the door.

During the ride, I just pedal through headwind, side winds, gusts, even though sometimes it feels like I’m pedaling in place. 
But then my Bunker Mentality speaks up. “Hey, so it’s windy, big deal. It’s a workout and you want a workout. And by the way if it starts to rain, same thing, keep pedaling. Fageddabouddit.”

The best part is when you make it back from the tour de elements, you feel gratified, even victorious, as if you went into battle and won: You broke through the negative conditions, negative thoughts, planted the flag at the top of the hill, and got the workout you wanted. Yeah!

Speaking of hills, check out this climb in Adelaide Australia with some Movistar pros, good stuff…

Tough climb made to look way too easy! 

‘Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet whenever you get on the bike. Then, do whatever it takes to keep the rubber side down. Have fun and be safe.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Long windy ride? Only one thing to do...Abide

When I’m thinking about getting on the bike for a local ride, I usually check the temp, whether rain is likely, and of course, the wind.

Rain is an automatic no go. Rode in the rain intentionally once, never again, been surprised by rain and hail, truly none-fun. I found out on one ride, where the forecast was 30 percent chance of rain, that with about 18 miles to get home, that from that point on, it was actually 100 percent chance of rain, and steady it was.

Cold, on the other hand can be dealt with. Dress for it. Same for heat.

Then there’s the wind. Even if everything else is good, if it’s really windy out, I usually figure out a way to not ride. I tend to recoil from wind in general, finding it puts my head into an easily annoyed state for some reason. Maybe it’s the clashing ions in the air or something. Although wind I’ve encountered in Hawaii has never annoyed me. Go figure.

But yesterday I needed a workout, and the trees outside were bending to occasional 20 mph gusts. I decided to just grin and bear it, go out and do my maintenance 51-miler, wind be damned!

I knew it was extra windy when I rode over a suspension footbridge over the American River. Wind out of the south was gusting hard up on the bridge, pushing my bike sideways. I looked down at the river’s surface and it was rippled, rough and ragged, buffeted by a steady, punchy wind.

I just kept riding. Usually I try to work on my average speed through a 14.5 mile stretch starting shortly after riding off the bridge and hitting the bike trail. But this time, I knew speed was out of the question, the wind was going to put a lot more resistance on the road. Usually I check my mph on that stretch, so I know whether I’m bogging down and need to pick up the pace, or if I’m in a strong groove that I just need to maintain.

But on this ride, I decided not to check my speed, because I knew I was slow. It was just a matter of buckling down and pedaling through the wind. Forget about pace, I told myself.

This was a different than my usual ride mindset. But it helped to accept the conditions as slow, slow, slow, something to get over, and good for one thing: laying a conditioning base.

Plus, burning off the Mac n’ cheese and German chocolate cake I ate the night before.

There weren’t many other riders on the trail, and there was some road debris of branches, and occasional spots of pebbles and sand deposited by rain runoff from the day before.

Riding through thick sand deposits can be dicey, especially on corners. If you’re leaning through them, your tires can fly sideways and put you in a gnarly meeting with the roadway. I tell myself to hit them straight up, with locked arms, and to ride through as fast as possible to minimize the tire drag in the sand. It works.

On the way back, the headwind is ridiculous, in some sections making it feel like I’m pedaling in place, the bike barely moving forward. I turn up my music and keep pedaling, enjoying some of the fast descents and working on sprints up a few of the short pitches.

On the second half of this ride, the 25 miles on the way home, I usually feel the fatigue of pushing myself hard on the ride out. Plus, our lovely friend Mr. Wind is almost always in your face to some degree on the way back.

That’s when it’s great to have a fast rider pass, then speed up to get on his or her wheel, and draft. I’ve had fast rides home aided immensely by drafting other riders, and switching back and forth to share the load. Way faster than I would have ridden slogging tall the way back alone.

On this ride back, I was tired, the wind was pushing me back, and lo and behold, a fast rider passed me up. I started to chase the guy, but the wind was braking me, and man, I was mentally and physically feeling mucho resistance.

Didn’t have enough oomph left to catch up to this guy, who to his credit, was really cutting through the headwind like the flags were limp.

My legs said, “Who cares, just ride,” and I backed off, knowing that by the time I caught the dude, that is, IF I caught him, I’d pretty much have none gas left in the tank.

So I abided, and kept pedaling at my snail’s pace, not bothering to check my computer to remind me just how slow I was going.

By the time I got home, yes, my total time was crazy slow. A full 25 minutes slower than a fast time I’d ridden a week ago.

But hey, I was good with it. Even proud of myself, by yiminy.

I’d ignored the foreboding prospects of riding a long way in obnoxious wind conditions.

I didn’t get caught up with burning out trying to have a fast pace.

I just pedaled through.

As the master philosopher, the Big Lebowski, the Dude, would say, I abided.

‘Til next time, never forget to put on a helmet before getting on the bike, and then, remember, it’s all important to keep the rubber side down. Have fun and be safe.

-- Mark Eric Larson